If you're like me and have an old amp (or many old amps), then you know that they can get crackles and noise and sometimes even jump or dip in volume levels. I had these issues and putting in new tubes and replacing certain capacitors didn't solve it. Then I realized that the power tubes just hang there and they can get wobbly and loose and not make good contact. Mine were quite wiggly in the socket and crackled when I moved them with the amp on.

So I searched the internet for "loose tubes amp" and learned about how to "re-tension your tube socket." Basically, you unplug your amp and take out the power tubes. Into each hole of each socket, you carefully stick a small jeweler's screw driver to bend the metal that holds the tube prong. You bend it just a little, about an 1/8 of a turn, and try to bend near the bottom. If you bend near the top, it'll just be hard to insert the tube. You want to bend near the bottom so the prong is gripped.

I did this and my tubes are no longer wobbly. They are tight in the socket. No more crackle. No more intermittent loss of gain.

This was new to me. I had never heard of re-tensioning tube sockets. Hope this helps you, too.

P.S. Don't sue me if you electrocute yourself. Do this at your own risk. There are big capacitors in tube amps that can hold a charge for a while. So do this after the amp has been off a while and the capacitors have discharged through the power cord ground.

Read more about re-tensioning tube sockets on the internet or watch a youtube video if there is one.

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